


"spoken tales"

by EdwardNotSoLittle



Category: The Terror (TV 2018)
Genre: Francis is dad, M/M, Poor bb, edward and jopson are sons, terror bingo, yes the cow story again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:01:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22771435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EdwardNotSoLittle/pseuds/EdwardNotSoLittle
Summary: Edward listens to his love’s tender moment with their captain as he lays on his sickbed.Terror bingo:Missing scene
Relationships: Captain Francis Crozier/Thomas Jopson (Paternal), Thomas Jopson/Lt Edward Little
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24
Collections: The Terror Bingo (2019)





	"spoken tales"

He wanted very badly to see Thomas, but people were still up, no wasn’t the time. 

_‘You’ll be okay Tom… you’ll be okay, you’ll see.’_

The look in Jopson’s eyes when he said those words had made his heart break all the more, but not near as bad as the words the newly appointed lieutenant had spoken next. 

_‘Don’t cry, Ned, please… when I’m gone... please don’t cry…’_

Don’t cry? 

Don’t fucking cry?

How could he not?!

He’d promised a life with the man had he not? 

So here he sat, waiting, like a child with a crush for others to go away so he could go see to his dying love. 

No. Not dying.

He would live.

At this point, it was Mr Hartnell who was trying to help tend to the sick now with Bridgens gone. 

Sweet Tom Hartnell had volunteered to the task, Edward had a feeling the man knew that everything was futile in the long run, and he at least wanted to try to ease some suffering off the men who really needed some comfort in their last days.

Bless that man for allowing him to share a tent with him, it allowed him to be closer to Thomas while he was… ill.

The rustling of canvas fabric and small audible groan from within the tent next to the one he resided caught his attention. 

_‘Thomas?’_

He was just about to raise himself from his own nestle of blankets when a voice stopped him. 

“At ease, Jopson.”

Freezing he pondered, wondering if his ears were playing tricks on him.  
Was that the captain’s voice just now?

More rustling of scratcy cloth before he heard the voice again, softer now, 

“At ease.”

The air became tense as he listened, he knew he shouldn’t, but here he was. It wasn’t like there was much to distract him from the conversation.

“Is there something I can do for you, sir?” came the voice, Thomas’ voice, but it almost sounded wrong… no, it did.

It sounded so wrong.

A dull and husky thing, as if all life had been sapped out of it. 

This thought struck Edward hard. Despair washing over him like a freezing spray of arctic sea carried by the arctic gale force winds.

_‘Death’s whisper’_

Edward felt his heart tighten into knots, tears prickling at his eyes and he was biting the back of his mittened hand to try to keep himself from bawling.

He heard the captain’s rather entertained, yet wry chuckle, “Yes.” he trailed off and Edward could vaguely make out the scraping of wooden legs on the shale.

“You can lie there, not feeling well while I try and cheer you up by telling you the story of the time anyone ever let me ride a cow.”

The words themselves, so unexpected, they were able to quell some of that dread brimming within his heart at their emergence. 

The Captain? Riding a cow? 

Riding a cow?

A sickening rattle of breath and a strained wheeze were what had become of that infectious laugh. “I know that story ends with you head first in a compost heap.”

Thomas Jopson had the most beautiful laughs he had ever heard. Soft and yet voluminous in it’s own way, how his breath would do a quick hitch that would occasionally crumble into a hiccup for air if he were really in a fit… and….  
… and then there was that smile. 

How he loved that smile.

It is what drew his attention in the first place. 

A handsome smile, polite and almost modestly accented with two dimpled cheeks, the way his lips would curve up to reveal such beautifully kept teeth. 

Tom’s smile had taken a hit over the course of the trek, as had his own, and most of the men’s he was certain. 

Hygiene wasn’t a luxury out here on the ice as humiliating and unsettling as it could be.

In recent times, should they share a kiss when they knew they were in the privacy of but each other’s company, Edward could taste the blood in Tom’s mouth.

Blood coming from weakening teeth set in painfully sore gums. 

No, not blood. 

Scurvy. 

The captain chuckled softly, and Edward could hear the steady drips of a rag being wrung out into a basin of water. 

“Well, would you like to hear it or not?” 

“Yeah.” 

It was the tone of that one word that made that smothering wave of despair come crashing down on Edward’s shoulders once more, but at the same time it also made his chest swell with that ever growing spring of love for the younger man. 

He would be lying if he would say that he had never been a tad envious of the almost paternal bond that the captain shared with his former steward, and how Thomas was one of the _very_ few in number, who could have the captain’s ear almost instantly. 

“The cow in question, it belonged to a neighbor.”

“Foley.” his love’s labored voice stated, clearly he had indeed heard the tale before, or others like it, and it made the captain chuckle in agreement.

“Yes, Coilin Foley.”

He used to kick that cow when he wanted it to move.

And it never wanted to move.

She just stood in the grass meadow all day long, which is why us children thought she'd be a safe one to climb up.”

Edward settled himself, laying back where he had been resting himself as he listened to the tale of a day long, long ago for the captain, even though he technically was eavesdropping he found himself so entranced in it that he started slightly when he heard Thomas let out a small shuddering sob from next door.

At first his instincts told him to get up, to run to him, but the steady tempo of their captain’s voice trying to get him to settle halted his haste.

“I-I’m sorry, sir…” 

“You have nothing to be sorry for lad, I know how hard this has been on you, if you need a moment to break down away from all else’ eyes, I won’t tell a soul.” 

“I have faith, sir… I still have faith that you will bring them home.”

“Aye, and that includes you lieutenant. I shan’t think of what Edward would do to me if you were to pass on my watch. You’re not going anywhere.” 

A tense silence filled the air like plague, and Edward was certain he could hear Tom whimper softly.

“I’ve seen how he looks at you, and how you look at him. Ye’ve got my blessing, not that it matters much.” the man chuckled, clearly trying to ease any causes for alarm on Tom’s behalf.

There was another strangled whimper and finally he heard Tom’s voice.

“Here at sea, sir, you are just as much father to me as you are captain, it means a great deal. Thank you.” 

An aura of warmth filled Ned’s chest and he finally let the tears fall in silent, clear, droplets onto the back of his heather gray mittens.


End file.
